Hens

Justask

Ok im been hounded by my son to get chickens....

Ive done some reserch but would love to hear from real chicken owners

* How many should you keep?

* How much and where could you source them?

* Are they noisey?

* Do they interact with humans?

Branoic

We got our own hens last weekend. We built our own coop and a sizable run in the garden, and we've got 3, each a different variety.

They're not expensive - €8 - €12 or so.

No they're not noisy. One of them is quite young and was a bit noisy at first cos she was probably scared, but even then she was practically indistinguishable from normal bird noises in the garden.

They don't really interact with humans, but they so have their own little personalities and are funny to watch.

Justask

Branoic wrote: »

We got our own hens last weekend. We built our own coop and a sizable run in the garden, and we've got 3, each a different variety.

They're not expensive - €8 - €12 or so.

No they're not noisy. One of them is quite young and was a bit noisy at first cos she was probably scared, but even then she was practically indistinguishable from normal bird noises in the garden.

They don't really interact with humans, but they so have their own little personalities and are funny to watch.

Thanks a mill

theparish

Justask wrote: »

Ok im been hounded by my son to get chickens....

Ive done some reserch but would love to hear from real chicken owners

* How many should you keep?

* How much and where could you source them?

* Are they noisey?

* Do they interact with humans?

How many depends on how much space you have,but to start out 2,3 or 4 would be ideal to see wether or not hens are for you.
Common laying hens such as light sussex or rhode island hybrid are usually 8 to 14 euro.Check out donedeal.ie and irishfowl.com for sellers and bring and buy sales in your area.
they are at their noisiest when they lay for 3 or 4 mins,but it is a nice noise or if they think you have some treats they might make a racket for a few seconds but again its a nice noise.If they get spooked then they will make a racket until the coast is clear i.e. cats,frisky terrier.
Once they settle in to their new surroundings and get used to your company they will run to you looking for treats.Best of luck and enjoy the eggs.

Themadhouse

2 or 3 would be a good number to start off with.

We have a variety here.
Rhode island hybrid: Brilliant layer, huge eggs, very easy to handle, quiet, loves to eat treats from my hand, would get more if i had the space.
Araucana: lays blue eggs, small hen, great personality, real time wasters as you will spend so much time looking at them, not great layers, very quiet and they make a sound like they are whistling, easy to handle. Love them.
Welsummers: Very large birds, mine are very noisy, very dramatic which encourages more noise, good layers, dark brown eggs, not interested in human interaction. Disasterous to handle.
Silkie: small and light, laying wise it depends on the individual hen ( we have 2 and one of them is not a layer and the other when not broody is quite good), They cant fly, their feathers are like fur, very docile, great pets for kids as they are very easy to handle, very quiet, they are very sweet birds. Downsides witht he silkies: dont get them if you want regular eggs, they go broody which can be a pain unless you are going to hatch eggs under them, they are very hard to sex so means you are trusting the seller isnt selling you a cockerel.
We dont have them but Hylines are really popular and great layers.

Hens are brilliant fun. If you are buying a coop and run this will be the most expensive outlay. The hens are cheap to buy and to feed. A bag of organic laayers pellets will cost you about 12 euro (20kg). a bag of mixed corn for treats about 12 euro (20kg). A and a bag of oyster grit or mixed grit is the same. We have 7 hens and a baag of the pellets lasts for about 2 months, the corn about 4 months and the griit about a year.
They will eat scraps, lettuce, spuds, green veg, tomato, grapes, spagetti.

They can be noisy after laying but in our garden its only the welsummers that are really noisy, the rest are more chatty when they lay.
Most will become fiendly and human orientated with time spent wiht them and of course treats are great for encouraging trust.

I really recommend them as pets and of course eggs every day is great too!

imokyrok

I had a couple of hens before and found the eggs mount up quickly so I'd recommend just having two or three. Even two produce a prodigious amount of waste also - something to bear in mind. They are fun creatures and if you do any gardening they love coming over to scramble in the upturned earth for worms.

None of my neighbours noticed the hens from a noise point of view. Once you don't get a cock noise shouldn't be a problem.

Laika_

Hi there, it might be an idea to re-home an ex-battery hen also. I did this a few weeks ago after getting in touch with a woman from Cork via donedeal.ie who has re-homed 2162 battery hens this year alone!

It's a very rewarding experience- when we got our ex-bat a few weeks ago she weighed close to nothing and was lacking feathers in most parts of her body. However, now she is thriving- almost fully feathered again and loving the life outdoors! It's great to see her having a dust-bath with the others and to see her personality coming out. She is ~18 months old and was about to be slaughtered as she was not laying as frequently anymore when she was taken in by this woman and cared for until she was strong enough to join our lot.

She only cost €4 as this particular woman is not making any profit from re-homing hens. The only draw-back is that she may not lay again, she hasn't laid since we got her but we have 3 others who make up for her! Best of luck!